​Every Sunday I sit in the back of a very large downtown church. I'm part of the A/V team. I push the buttons that change the images on the screens, and I change the screens to camera shots when helpful. On the wall behind me is a plaque that is in the neighborhood of 4' x 6' that lists the history of the church and those who have served it from the beginning. Many of the more recent ones include pictures, which I love to see as their staff has gone from stern looking men to the current jolly, round white guy and joyful, round black woman. Their joy is infectious, and they leap off the board. Sprinkled within the listing of clergy are things like, "Columbia on the Hannibal Circuit", and "Missouri finally a station!" Missouri UMC is the church. Interspersed are notes about the '39 merger and the '68 merger. And yes, there are tags for the splits, too. Well, the ones that happened within the history of the congregation.

Sitting in front of that board every week gives me hope, and helps me feel some degree of security. Over the years there have been splits, unions, and changes the original clergy could never imagine. But through it all the church remains. Sometimes large, sometimes smaller, sometimes unsure of tomorrow, but always doing its best to live out God's call to make disciples and love our neighbors.

Loving God, the part of your church here on earth that has been known as United Methodist is in a state of crisis, and covered in uncertainty and insecurity. We've been here before, just not in our lifetimes. As we look back on those times we realize that you lead the church, in whatever form it takes, as long as the church still earnestly seeks to do your will. Wrap your loving arms around us, and reassure us that whatever happens your Spirit will lead us through it, and the church will move forward. Maybe not looking as it currently does, but looking as you need it in this 21st century.......Amen.